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Essex beat the PCA Masters by four wickets at Chelmsford on Thursday to win the Twenty20 Floodlit Cup.Having already won their first three matches in the round-robin competition, also featuring Derbyshire, Essex went into their final match with the knowledge that another win would secure the Cup for the second year in a row.Their opponents pushed them hard and it was only a late flurry from James Foster (65*) that ensured Essex reached their target of 157 with one ball to spare.The Masters produced an innings that gathered momentum, after winning the toss, with four batsmen reaching 20. Azhar Mahmood top-scored with 36 off 23 balls, including a savage pull through midwicket off Ryan ten Doeschate for six to bring up the 100.Essex’s reply began disastrously when Mark Pettini was caught by Phil Simmons at second slip off Mahmood’s first ball. Grant Flower went the same way in the third over as Essex lurched to 15-2.James Middlebrook (25) and Ryan ten Doeschate (39) then upped the tempo in a stand of 43 with the latter hitting three leg-side sixes in Martin Bicknell’s third over to bring the 50 up in the sixth over.After Middlebrook was run out attempting a second run to midwicket the stage was set for Foster to see his team home. The Essex wicketkeeper lost partners at regular intervals but he kept his head to reach his 50 with a straight six and four off Dean Headley.Graham Napier played a useful supporting role in an unbeaten stand of 40 for the seventh-wicket as the six runs needed off the final over from Chris Lewis were duly reached off the penultimate ball when Foster straight-drove to the boundary.Friday’s last match in the competition between Derbyshire and the PCA Masters at Derby will now decide the minor placings with the hosts looking to register their first victory in the competition at the fourth attempt.

Much is at stake when an RCA President’s XI takes on a buoyed English side in Jaipur on Saturday in what will be the only practice game before the seven-match ODI series starts on Tuesday.England, who are without their inspirational captain Andrew Flintoff – who is gone home for a couple of days to see his new-born son – are keen to maintain their winning momentum while the youngsters in the home side will try hard to make an impression on the selectors ahead of the one-dayers.The drubbing in Mumbai has served as a wake-up call to the national selectors who will be present to assess the performance of players like Gautam Gambhir and Suresh Raina. The injury-enforced absence of Sachin Tendulkar from the Indian squad has thrown up a slot for a youngster to come in, and it will be interesting to see who finally fills his shoes.The injury scare concerning Virender Sehwag, who played with a back spasm in Mumbai, has also forced the selectors to look at the bench strength, although he has been named in the 15-member one-day squad.The English team, to be led by Vikram Solanki, had a strenuous workout in the nets today after arriving in the Pink City last night, while the RCA squad was still gathering.One player in the local side who will attract the spotlight is the former Indian international and current Rajasthan captain Ajay Jadeja. This will be his first outing against an international side since he successfully fought a five-year ban slapped on him by the BCCI for match-fixing related allegations.The game also gives an opportunity to promising youngsters like V Shivramakrishnan, who hit a brilliant hundred in Deodhar Trophy, and Jaidev Shah to test their prowess against quality opposition. However, Rajasthan players Dishant Yagnik, Vikrant Yadav, Pankaj Singh and Sanjay Gill may struggle to make it into the final XI.England squad Vikram Solanki (capt), Andrew Strauss, Owais Shah, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Paul Collingwood, Geraint Jones, Matt Prior, Liam Plunkett, Ian Blackwell, Matthew Hoggard, Kabir Ali, James Anderson, Gareth Batty, Sajid MahmoodRCA President’s XI squad Gautam Gambhir, V Shivaramakrishnan, Ajay Jadeja (capt), Venugopal Rao, Suresh Raina, Mohammad Kaif, Parthiv Patel, Ramesh Powar, VRV Singh, RP Singh, Piyush Chawla, Rohit Sharma, Pankaj Singh, Sanjay Gill, Dishant Yagnik, Jaidev Shah, Vikrant Yadav

Daniel Vettori has got his wish of more responsibility after being named captain of the New Zealand squad for the Twenty20 World Championship. Vettori also wants the one-day job after Stephen Fleming stepped down following the World Cup, and the former leader was not included in the 15-man outfit for the tournament in South Africa in September.John Bracewell, the coach, said Fleming had been omitted to allow Vettori the freedom to run the side. “This is the first opportunity for Daniel to captain the team abroad and we wanted to ensure that Daniel and the team were not looking to Stephen for leadership,” he said. “We also thought it would be a good opportunity for Stephen to remain with Nottinghamshire to build towards the longer forms of the game.”The leadership switch was not the only change as the wicketkeeper Gareth Hopkins, Nathan McCullum and Bradley Scott were included after strong tours of Australia with New Zealand A. “Gareth gets under the ball and hits it a long way,” Bracewell said. “With their complementary skills, we are not going to lose anything if both Brendon McCullum and Gareth play in the same match.”Nathan McCullum is another aggressive lower-order batsman who performed well as a bowler on the A tour and Bracewell has been impressed with his all-round skills. Scott comes into the side instead of James Franklin, who the team management wants to focus on the one-day and Test scenes.”Chris Martin has been included in the squad as our second strike bowler in support of Shane Bond,” Bracewell said. “Batting at the end of the order, it is unlikely that his batting will be exposed in Twenty20 cricket.” Scott Styris has been picked subject to fitness after having back, knee and calf problems during his off-season stint with Durham.On left-arm seamer James Franklin’s omission, Bracewell said that he needed to rectify his action, given his tendency to fall away to the leg side on his delivery stride.”I think we’ve all noticed that there are things in Franky’s action that are not right, so we have decided this is the time to do it,” he told the . “It is tough on him because no one wants to miss out on cricket.”New Zealand squad Daniel Vettori (capt), Shane Bond, Peter Fulton, Mark Gillespie, Gareth Hopkins (wk), Chris Martin, Craig McMillan, Brendon McCullum (wk), Nathan McCullum, Jacob Oram, Jeetan Patel, Bradley Scott, Scott Styris, Ross Taylor, Lou Vincent.

Duncan Fletcher was in a defiant mood on the morning after England’s disastrous defeat in the second Test at Adelaide, insisting that England’s batsmen were to blame for the collapse of their Ashes prospects, and not the defensive team selection that had allowed Australia to dictate terms in the closing stages of the game.”We lost that match in that hour, hour-and-a-half, yesterday morning,” Fletcher told reporters at the team hotel in Adelaide, prior to their departure for Perth. “We put ourselves under a little pressure. The first two wickets were unnecessary, and when KP [Kevin Pietersen] got out, a large part of our batting had gone. If we had batted well there and continued in a real positive vein, who knows what could have happened.”Positivity has not been a watchword of England’s team make-up in this series, however, and Fletcher’s position as coach is under greater scrutiny than ever before. Several former captains have pointed the finger at the team’s selection, including his old ally Nasser Hussain. “He will come under the immense pressure in the next week or so,” Hussain told The Evening Standard. “His selections have let him down and let England down in [Ashley] Giles and [Geraint] Jones.”Part of Fletcher’s success as a coach in his seven-year tenure has been his ability to absorb the flak on the occasions when things have gone wrong, but on this occasion, he chose to share the buck with his beleaguered captain, Andrew Flintoff, who – to judge from his dodgy ankle, dreadful dismissal and thousand-yard post-match stare – has got more than enough issues to worry about.”I’m not the sole selector on tour,” Fletcher reiterated on at least four occasions. “I’m not the one who says: ‘right, this is what we’ll go in with’. Out here it’s like it’s been for the last four or five years, which have been pretty successful. The captain and coach finalise the side for each Test match, and do I stand by the selections? Of course we stand by those selections. I’ve got to stand by those selections as part of the selection committee.”Andrew and I have the final say,” he confirmed, adding that the mysterious selection committee didn’t include David Graveney or any of the home selectors, but instead consisted of a panel of senior players – Andrew Strauss, Paul Collingwood and Jones – who are consulted prior to each Test. Given that Jones, who does not currently have a central contract, is one of the most contentious choices on this tour already, it is a further sign that Shane Warne was spot on in his pre-series assessment, when he claimed that Fletcher has his “favourites”.And those favourites certainly do not include Monty Panesar, whose continued omission from the Test team has created waves of indignation from England’s disgruntled fans. “I’m sure there’s a lot of anger,” Fletcher said, “but I could have taken the easy option with the other players on the selection committee. We’ve got to sit down and say what do we think is the best side, with all the knowledge we’ve got around, within that group of people. What is the best side to win the Test match?”

Fletcher also defended James Anderson’s retention in the side, despite his current series figures of 2 for 303. “Andrew Flintoff was talking about how he wanted to go back to the seamers on a skiddy wicket,” Fletcher said. “When we played South Australia, Jimmy was the best bowler there. He was more impressive than the spinner and that’s why we picked him for Brisbane ahead of [Sajid] Mahmood. When you bowled on the main square, not the rough, it didn’t turn. Skiddy bowlers was the way to go. We had to pick him for Brisbane, because he was the most economical at that stage, and he’s bowled well here already.”The folly of entering such a marquee series with just one fully match-fit bowler in Matthew Hoggard was exposed by England’s inability to polish off Australia’s tail on the fourth day, but Fletcher turned that situation around to highlight once again the importance of a No. 8 who can score Test runs. “At 376 for 6 Australia were pretty vulnerable, but Warne’s hundred [partnership] put the pressure back on us,” he said.There will inevitably be calls for his resignation if England cannot turn their fortunes around at Perth, starting next Thursday, but Fletcher insisted he still had the backing of his team. “I’ve never had long-term views,” he said. “I’ll sit and have a look at it and see if I feel comfortable with myself, that’s the most important thing. If you don’t feel comfortable with yourself, you’ve got a problem. If you feel comfortable you can contribute, that’s the most important thing.And despite the massive odds that are stacked against England, Fletcher still believed his team could emulate Don Bradman’s men in 1936-37 and become only the second side in Ashes history to come back from 2-0 down. “Anytime we play against Australia it’s a huge challenge,” he said. “It was a huge challenge last year, and it’s a huge challenge this winter. But we play sport for that. We might as well not pitch up if we didn’t believe we could come back.”

Having finally chalked up one in the win column, Rahul Dravid was in a muchmore relaxed frame of mind going into Friday’s DLF Cup match againstAustralia, a semi-final in all but name given that West Indies havealready sealed a place in Sunday’s final. And though India have been atthe receiving end of some real beating from the Australians in recentyears, most notably in the 2003 World Cup final, Dravid reckoned that hisplayers wouldn’t be intimidated going into the match.”A lot of the young guys haven’t played against Australia, so they don’thave that experience of losing to them,” he said, referring to playerslike Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Munaf Patel, Suresh Raina and Sreesanth.”Australia have done really well over the last few years. Their recordagainst any team in the world is good, not just against India. Having saidthat, it’s a great opportunity and challenge for us. I thought we did wellin the first 50 overs of the last game against them, and we do believethat if we play well, we can get the right result.”For Ricky Ponting, who comes back into the side after sitting out the lastgame, the tournament has been as much about assessing the bench strengthas it has been about preparing for the Champions Trophy. Admitting thatAustralia were expected to win every match and that there would be noexcuses if they missed out on the final, Ponting looked to return tobusiness as usual against India. “Every time you put on the green andgold, you should be able to give your best,” he said. “I wasn’t surprisedby the result yesterday, India had everything to play for and the WestIndies had nothing. Tomorrow happens to be a really big game for bothteams, and the sides should have their skills at a better level than atthe start of the tournament.”While the Australia XI had been decided much earlier, with the in-formMichael Clarke and Shane Watson sitting out, India could gamble on playingfive bowlers once again. Ajit Agarkar and Yuvraj Singh were feelingslightly unwell on Thursday, but both were expected to figure in thematch.Dravid said that his team composition would be dictated by the nature ofthe pitch. “Ideally I’d love to be able to five bowlers, but that’s whenall your batsmen have had a lot of batting and are coming into thetournament in good form. That’s where Irfan was doing a great job for uswhen he was bowling well and batting well through Sri Lanka and Englandand Pakistan. But you can’t go in with a set formula. You have to keepweighing it depending on the kind of personnel you have, the kind of formthey are in, and be flexible.”Ponting was bullish when asked about Stuart Clark, who’s being persistedwith despite going for 87 from seven overs against West Indies. “He had areally good workout yesterday and got some rhythm, that’s what he thoughtwas lacking the other night,” he said. “He knows his game very well and isexperienced. I expect him to bounce back.”The rotation policy employed by the selectors for this tournament also hadPonting’s full support. “There could be a lot of positives to come outfrom the experiments,” he said. “We’ve seen that Mitchell Johnson was afine force, and Shane Watson at the top of the order could be one morething that could happen at some stage down the track. It’s good to get alook at guys in different positions; otherwise you bring your squad of 13or 14 guys and don’t look at the younger ones. When the World Cup comesaround, if you have a few injuries, you’d be going into the tournamentwith inexperienced players.”For Dravid, most of the concerns were to do with the batting. SachinTendulkar has scores of 141 not out and 65, but there have been few othersizeable contributions. “Two matches back, we had made 309,” said Dravid.”We definitely want to do better, we know that. The top six or seven mustmake runs and bat out the full 50 overs.”His own lack of runs at the top of the order has made it hard to judge thesuitability of the decision to open with Tendulkar. “It would be nice toscore some runs,” he said. “But then, I am desperate to score every time Igo out to bat, irrespective of whether I have scored in the previous gameor not.”India’s batting frailty had certainly caught Ponting’s eye. “The Indianswill worry about their batting, but we could be worried about it as well,”he said. “We know they are all good players, a lot of them exceptionalone-day players. If we can put them under pressure for long periods oftime, then I think everything should be coming our way.”That pressure was bound to be applied from the start, with Glenn McGrathand Brett Lee slated to share the new ball. Dravid, though, refused tofocus only on those two, harking back to the debacle against West Indieson Wednesday. “I don’t think we can focus on just McGrath or Lee,” hesaid. “They have got a quality bowling attack, so we will have to playwell right through the 50 overs.”That showed yesterday with someone like Dwayne Smith bowling really well.You wouldn’t have thought of him being one of their strike bowlers whocould remove four of the top order, but he did that. It just shows that ifyou bowl in the right areas, anyone can be a threat.”Though being rolled over for 162 had dismayed him, Dravid was satisfiedwith the manner of the riposte which sealed that elusive first win of theseason. “To come back strongly the way we did showed a lot of resilienceand character,” he said. That’s a good sign. It also showed that there areareas of the game that we can work on. But it’s just been the first fullgame of the season for us. We have been on the road quite a bit and tohave had just one full game is quite strange.”Ponting suggested that he would analyse the previous games and the pitchconditions before deciding whether or not to bat first once again. He alsosaid that the pitches at the Kinrara Oval had been challenging for thebatsmen. “I think it’s hard work starting on that wicket, particularlywith the new ball when it is up and down. But once you get set, you canaccelerate. We’ve seen some batsmen get on and make big scores. It’s about15 or 20 balls that you have to get through, and make adjustments.”The team that adjusts best will extend their preparation for the ChampionsTrophy by one more game. For the losers, early flights home beckon, not tomention the disappointment of dropping a game in a rivalry that hascaptured the imagination like few others over the past decade.

Brad Hodge has signed a four-deal with Victoria, which will see him stay with the state until at least 2009-10. The move ended the chance of a surprise switch to New South Wales after they offered him a contract at the end of the season.Hodge, 30, who is currently playing for Lancashire, said he was looking forward to finishing his state days with the Bushrangers. “Victoria is my home, I have established my career here and it has provided me with the opportunity to chase my dream of representing my country.”He said the offer from New South Wales was a good one and deserved to be considered. “However, I am looking forward to furthering my career in Victoria,” he said. “I see some exciting times ahead, both as an individual and as part of the Bushrangers.”The signing of Hodge is another positive for the Bushrangers following the decision of Jon Moss to stay, and the coach Greg Shipperd was delighted his No. 3 was remaining in Melbourne. “Brad is an integral part of our team,” he said. “He has been the backbone of our batting line up for many years and his consistency and leadership are respected and admired by all.”Hodge has been included in Australia’s Test squad for the Ashes series and will join up with the side in July after his stint at Old Trafford.

Ashwell Prince, South Africa’s stand-in captain, has singled out Muttiah Muralitharan as the biggest threat to his team as they prepare for their two-Test series against Sri Lanka. Of his 635 Test wickets, Muralitharan has taken 82 against South Africa from 13 Tests at an average of 23.34. More than half of them (47) have been taken in Sri Lanka from seven Tests.”The way Sri Lanka has been playing recently shows that they are in pretty good form. Their captain [Mahela Jayawardene], Kumar Sangakkara, Murali, and Sanath Jayasuriya coming back into the side make them a strong unit. But our main worry will be Murali,” Prince told reporters. “These days everyone can analyse the players and we’ve got a lot of footage of the key players. We will be studying them before the series. We are missing some key players in our team and playing away from home makes us the underdogs in the series.”A lot of them [critics] say that experience counts a lot but one of the guys who will be replacing one of them is Jacques Rudolph, the only batsmen to score a Test hundred the last time we toured here,” Prince continued. “One of the other guys coming back is Herschelle Gibbs. Both are experienced Test players.”Despite the escalation of violence in Sri Lanka with the peace process between the government and the rebel Tamil Tigers virtually broken, Prince said that South Africa were quite happy with the security situation: “By all accounts there was someone who came out to check out on the security situation and we’ve been assured that everything is fine.”Mahela Jayawardene, his opposite number, felt that playing at home only heightened the expectations of his team. “With the amount of cricket that is being played today any country experiences a couple of major players who are forced to miss out because of injuries,” he said. “But once you put on your jersey to play for your country it doesn’t matter against whom you are playing against. We came across England in that manner. There are things that we can control and some we can’t control. We just want to be focused on what we can control on the team South Africa is going to put out on July 27.”Tom Moody, Sri Lanka’s coach, added that South Africa were always a tough opponent home or away. “We are determined to continue to keep our form and maintain the consistency as a team and the high standards we had in England in preparation for the matches,” he said. “The pleasing thing is we have a got a nice balance in the side with a blend of youth and experience.”South Africa open their tour with a three-day warm up match against a Sri Lanka Cricket President’s XI starting Saturday before going into the Test series on July 27.

Career-bests from Goolam Bodi (143) and Renato Almeida (5 for 18) provided the catalyst for Easterns who inflicted a humiliating defeat over Gauteng. Facing a target of 219 runs, after Bodi’s near six-hour innings, Gauteng collapsed in dramatic fashion to the pace bowling of Almeida to be scuttled for a mere 85 runs, giving their neighbours an unexpected 133-run victory.Nick van Woerkom’s knock of 53 allowed the home team, Northerns, to declare at 218 for seven, setting North West a tricky target of 279. With wickets falling all around him, and facing a big target, Driaan Steyn showed a lot of composure to go to his maiden hundred that allowed North West to walk away with a creditable draw. Pierre Joubert followed up his first innings six-wicket haul taking 3 for 29 as North West reached 190 for 8 when time ran out.Bowlers had the upper hand in the KwaZulu-Natal Western Province clash with 21 of the 30 wickets falling going to three bowlers. First it was Rory Kleinveldt for Western Province taking 5 for 42 as Natal were bowled out for 164 in their first innings. Robert Frylinck then replied with 6 for 94 as Western Province scored 244 thanks to an unbeaten 115 from Kleinveldt. Natal’s second innings saw Quentin Friend add 7 for 31 to his 3 for 48 for the first innings as the home team only managed 150. Western Province wasted no time in knocking off the 71 for victory without losing a wicket.

Digicel, the current sponsors of the West Indies team, have expressed “concern and disappointment” over the leaked report recently prepared by Justice Anthony Lucky, the chairman of the sponsorship negotiations review committee. The report – which observed that the Digicel deal could be declared null and void – was handed over to Ken Gordon, the chairman of the board, and was not expected to be made public.Ben Atherton, Digicel’s group marketing director, said in a press release, “We feel that the release of such unofficial reviews and leaked information does not serve the best interest of West Indies cricket or the objectives of the West Indies Cricket Board [WICB] Sponsorship Negotiations Review Committee in helping to move West Indies cricket forward in a positive manner.”We have co-operated to the fullest extent with the Sponsorship Review Committee’s initiative established by the WICB and respectfully await the official review of the committee report by the president of the WICB Mr Ken Gordon and the full board of the WICB.”He added that Digicel had entered the agreement in “good faith”, reaffirming their commitment to support the development of the regional game.”Digicel entered its sponsorship contract with the WICB in good faith with a view to encourage the return of West Indies cricket to its true potential. We are committed to helping West Indies cricket move forward in a positive manner, a development which will be welcomed by all parties and we are offering our support to both the WICB and WIPA [West Indies Players Association].”The release also said that Digicel’s main focus was “providing the necessary resources and support for players and fans to enjoy all of the benefits of the game now and in the future.”

Nottinghamshire can take very little credit for making Middlesex bat for a second time as they slumped to an embarassing 10 wicket defeat inside 3 days at Trent Bridge.Nothing much went right for Notts after Jason Gallian inserted the visitors on the first morning as a punishing century from the Australian Justin Langer took Middlesex to 412 and full batting points. Notts were then dismissed inside 80 overs in their first innings and made to follow-on 167 runs behind.Resuming on the third morning at 29-0 seamers Angus Fraser and Richard Johnson wiped out the Notts top order in the first hour of play. Fraser picked up the early wickets of Welton and Gallian with successive deliveries and that heralded the start of a steady procession back to the pavilion as the former England player took 4 wickets and Johnson 3 before lunch.The spin of Phil Tufnell accounted for AJ Harris, who had earlier pulled the same bowler for 6, to leave Notts on 128-8, still 39 runs away from making Middx bat again.However, in the first hour of the afternoon session David Lucas and Paul Franks batted sensibly to ensure that Middlesex would have to bat for a second time. Lucas, on the way to beating his previous career high of 25, dominated a stand which grew in confidence and shot selection. The first 50 partnership of the innings necessitated a return for Fraser at the Radcliffe Road End. Though obviously still tired from his marathon unbroken morning spell of 13 overs he managed to end the stand when Franks clipped to Joyce at square-leg.Franks had reached exactly 50, coming off 98 deliveries with 7×4’s. Lucas had advanced to 46 not out but any hopes he had of a maiden half century were instantly dashed as Fraser had last man Matt Whiley caught behind first ball – to complete a pair.Fraser, three days after celebrating his 35th birthday, had taken 6-64 (9-103 in the match) to take the starring role in dismising Notts for 192 in just 60 overs.Requiring 26 runs for victory openers Andrew Strauss and Mike Roseberry saw Middlesex home side 4 overs to lift their side above Gloucestershire at the foot of the Division Two table.